On Thursday, the Supreme Court of India, directed the Bombay HC to take up actress Mamta Kulkarni’s petition for quashing of FIR naming her as one of the accused in an ‘international drug conspiracy’ to transport Ephedrine powder for manufacturing Methamphetamine.
A bench comprising of Justice Rohinton Nariman and Justice Navin Sinha dismissed the special leave petition filed by Senior Advocate Siddartha Dave on behalf of Mamta Kulkarni against the Bombay HC judgment of August 26, 2018 wherein the HC refused to quash cases filed under various sections of the Narcotics Drugs & Psychotropic Substances Act against her.
Initially a FIR was registered against two people under section 6(c), 9(a), 25(a), 29 of the NDPS Act on April 12, 2016 at Vartak Nagar police station in regard to possession of 2 kg Ephedrine, a narcotics substance valuing Rs. 80 lakhs. Thereafter, upon investigation, police claimed to have unearthed a massive international drug racket and named Kulkarni as one of the 17 accused in the four charge sheets filed by them.
As of now, the court allowed the application for condonation of delay filed by the petitioner against the High Court’s judgment as there was a delay of 96 days, and stated- “We request the
High Court, if possible, given the current pandemic situation, to take up and dispose of writ petition No. 5427 of 2018 as expeditiously as is possible in the circumstances.
Alleging that she was falsely implicated in the drug case, the petitioner states that although she filed a petition for quashing of said FIR against her, the petition came to be listed thrice before the High Court yet the same was adjourned on all three occasions leading to its pendency for more than one and a half years.
However, the petitioner sought direction to the High Court for expeditious disposal of her case for quashing which was granted.
READ THE FULL JUDGEMENT- https://main.sci.gov.in/supremecourt/2020/8321/8321_2020_34_10_23661_Order_27-Aug-2020.pdf
